Greetings!

I have been playing The Portuguese lately, in practically every game, and I've developed a new strategy(not sure if it's uncovered and being used by people yet, but I'm just going to let the community know anyways). The strategy is best used in Team games, it's a 5-Hussar Fast Fortress which gives you 70-90 population, a decent age time(7:30-8:00 depending on the resources around you, livestock(sheep), etc).
Otherwise for 1vs1 games, I suggest a 10 Musketeer Fast Fortress instead, to defend against a Colonial Assault(rush).

First off, let me explain the cards you'll need:

-700 Food
-700 Wood
-700 Coin
-8 Cassadore(Fortress Age)
-5 Dragoons(Fortress Age)
-2 Organ Guns(Fortress Age)
-1000 Food (Fortress Age)

Now, for the cards that are recommended:

-Economic Theory
-Land Grab
-Fencing School
-Riding School
-Engineering School(Optional Really)
-Advanced Arsenal
-Advanced Church
-Dragoon Combat
-Refrigeration
-Royal Mint
-Factory Cards(Both)
-Gunpowder Infantry Attack/HP/Combat(All three if possible)
-Genitours (To lame 20 Range Dragoons later on)
-Rangefinding (50 Range Mortars- self explanatory)

Now you know the cards you'll need, here is the Build Order

-3 Settlers on Crates, 4 Settlers on hunts

-Shift 2 Settlers off the Crates and put them on to Hunts after you've collect the Food Crates, leave 1 Settler to collect a Wood crate, build a House, and task him to hunt(Leave any Wood/Gold crates left, Collect them later to preserve Villager Seconds)

-Age at around 13-14 Settlers, depending on how fast you gather 800 food, Save your first shipment, Age with the 400 Wood Politician.

-Whilst Aging, Put 3 Settlers on Coin, find a Good placement for your 2nd Town Center (A place that allows you to control as much resources possible while not being in somewhere dangerous which it could get killed).

-After you've aged, Get 2 Food Settlers to collect the Wood, Use 2 Coin Settlers to build a Stable. After the Food Settlers are done collecting, task 1 back to food, and 1 to make 2 Houses, put him on food after he's done. Your First shipment should be 700 Coin, you should have 2 Shipments around now, so send 700 Wood after 700 Coin.

-Make 5 Hussars out of your Stable, Your Settler Ratio should be like this (10-12 on Food, 5+ on Coin, 2 Collecting the Massive income of Crates). Now, with the 700 Wood, Build
3 Houses and 2 Barracks(find a good spot for them). Use the Hussars to raid, shortly you'll receive another shipment, send 700 Food.

-Use any Livestock you can, also it's fine to not keep a full Double Town Center production, since you need Food to Age. After collecting 700 Food, You should have enough to Age shortly, Do age with the Town Center that will likely not get attack(in case you get attacked). Age with the 6 Cassadore politician, now Shift some Coin Settlers on Food, to have around 15-20, and shift 3 Settlers on Wood from your Coin Settler pool(you should have at least kept a 1 Town Center Settler Production), and you should have about 5~ on Coin, or more.

-After aging, Immediately make 10 Cassadores out of your 2 Barracks, Place your Third Town Center at a Strategic Position, You should have a shipment by now, so send 8 Cassadores if you want to enlarge your Cassadore force, 5 Dragoons if you suspect Cavalry or 2 Organ Guns if the enemy was massing infantry. Now when the 10 Cassadores are done training, you should have 16 Cassadores, queue as much as you can again, and after they come out, you should have around 23~(that's without the 8 Cassadore card, otherwise you'd have well over 30). Decide when you should attack, be sure to shift more Settlers on Food, and keep up Triple Town Center Settler production, never stop Booming until you hit Max Settler population.

-The rest is up to you, as I said, I use this practically all the time in Team Games, and it has guaranteed at least 70% chance win, depending on the skill of your allies.
Also Manage your Settlers as you see fit, it all comes down to skill now. Note that even if your initial push fails it's not over, you have an unstoppable Economy, and you can also go Industrial to lame those 20 Ranged Jinetes.

Recorded Games
http://aoe3.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1494
This game shows an alternate version of The Portuguese Royal Expedition, using 10 Musketeers instead of 10 Hussars, the point of this Game is to show what you do after you get to Fortress!


Good luck, and I hope you have great success with this strategy, remember this Strategy is best used for Team Games.

Kind Regards,
Watson

[This message has been edited by Watson Day (edited 08-24-2007 @ 12:18 PM).]